Oak Park's Mario Morris, left, (No. 16; red) gets away with a facemask against Southfield's quarterback Tre Walton on Friday night in the Division 2 district finals. The Knights won the game in overtime 19-12. (Michael Niziolek | MLive.com)

Oak Park's Mario Morris, center, (No. 16) has nowhere to run with the ball on Friday night in a 19-12 win over Southfield in the Division 2 district finals. (Michael Niziolek | MLive.com)

OAK PARK -- Oak Park linebacker Ashton Gray's picture-perfect tackle in overtime at the 1-yard line helped his team hold off Southfield in the district finals on Friday night.

Malik Washington put the Knights ahead 19-12 with a 2-yard touchdown run to give his team a lead, and that's where the score stayed thanks to Gray.

On Southfield's ensuing possession, Gray wrapped up Bluejays running back Gerald Gates in the backfield on fourth-and-one. Gray had Gates legs held tight as he pushed him backwards at the line of scrimmage.

"I asked my coach, can I take a chance?" Gray said, smiling. "He told me I better not miss. I slid under the fullback and I wasn't letting go. I wasn't letting go at all!"

Gray didn't want to risk his playoff journey coming to an end.

Southfield (7-4) didn't have a strong kicking game, and after the loss coach Tim Conley said if his team scored, the offense would have gone for the win by attempting a two-point conversion.

"I've gone through so much here, this is my first time even having a winning season," Gray said. "We weren't going to lose this game."

The overtime finish was a fitting end for the evenly matched Oakland Activities Association White rivals.

Earlier this season, Oak Park (9-2) beat Southfield 24-18 in overtime by scoring a touchdown on a similar fourth down play.

"A couple plays seperated our teams this year," Oak Park coach Greg Carter said. "We've been fortunate to beat a great team. They have all kinds of talent. For us to fight and be able to beat them twice in one year is an amazing accomplishment for our team."

Washington accounted for most of Oak Park's offense in the rematch. He ran the ball 19 times for 169 yards, scoring all three of his team's touchdowns. Seven of Washington's carries went for over 10 yards.

In the fourth quarter, he had a 66-yard run up the sideline that tied the game 12-12 with 5:49 left. The Knights missed the kick on the extra-point attempt.

"He knew he had to make a play," Carter said. "He broke a tackle and it was great run. He's our big play guy. At some point in the game, we believe that Malik is going to break one for us."

Washington tied the game back up on the first play of the drive.

Prior to the touchdown, Gates helped Southfield march down the field to take a 12-6 lead. He capped off a eight-play, 61-yard drive with a 27-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-one.

Gates burst through the defensive line off his guard on the left side.

It became a foot race between him and Oak Park cornerback John Kelly, who was the lone defender in the secondary, to the endzone. Gates, who had 84 yards on 22 carries, scored with 6:40 left on the clock.

Southfield held onto its first lead a little longer.

On the first play of the second quarter, Southfield quarterback Tre Walton put his team up 6-0 with a 24-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Madison.

Gates fumbled at the 9-yard line, and Washington scored on a 5-yard run two plays later. The teams went into halftime tied 6-6.

"When you make mistakes, not making extra points and the fumble, things get magnified in the playoffs and you pay for it," Conley said.

Oak Park advances to the pre-regionals for a game at Wyandotte Roosevelt, time and date to be determined, next week.

Wyandotte Roosevelt won its district final game 9-0 over Taylor Truman on Friday night.

"I'm so proud of my kids," Carter said. "You can see it in their eyes how much this means to them. We don't know how far we can go, but we are going to play extremely hard everyday."